Manhattan Concert Productions presents The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by composer René Clausen featuring the National Festival Chorus and Brooklyn Wind Symphony at Lincoln Center’s intimate Alice Tully Hall! This exciting work will be led by father and son guest conductors and composers René Clausen and Joshua Clausen.
Written by René Clausen, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere will be performed by the National Festival Chorus and Brooklyn Wind Symphony. Using the famous Longfellow poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere", Dr. Clausen's five movements invoke the excitement of the horse ride as well as the quiet of the streets, the beauty of the night, the history of the rickety old bell tower, and the breathless excitement as the message is delivered. Clausen’s The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere was commissioned and premiered by Eastern New Mexico University in 2008.
The concert will also feature Joshua Clausen’s Requiem and Into the strenuous briefness and a performance from Lewis-Clark State College Concert Choir, led by Sarah J. Graham.
René Clausen is professor of music at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and has served as conductor of The Concordia Choir since 1986. He is the artistic director of the Emmy award-winning Concordia Christmas Concerts, which are frequently featured by PBS stations throughout the nation.
In addition, René is a renowned composer and arranger, having written more than 100 commissioned compositions for organizations such as The King’s Singers, Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the American Choral Directors Association. He is also a frequent guest conductor, composer-in-residence, clinician and lecturer. Clausen has conducted such works as Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Brahms’ Requiem, Britten’s War Requiem and several of his own works including Gloria – in three movements.
Described by Public Radio International as “powerful” and “poignant,” Joshua Clausen’s works frequently fuse strong rhythmic textures, intense harmony and intricate patterning with narratives from history, mass culture and current events. Performances of Clausen’s works include the 2018 Tribeca New Music Festival, a 2019 showcase of Clausen’s choral works in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, and Ensemble Mise-En, among others. Clausen’s music has been featured on PRI’s The World with Marco Werman and Classical Minnesota Public Radio.
Joshua Clausen’s music has been recognized by a McKnight Composer Fellowship and a Jerome Foundation Composer/Sound Artist Fellowship, as well as awards from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the American Composers Forum, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. He is also a member of the Spitting Image Collective, a Twin-Cities group dedicated to composer-curated programming, and mentors young composers during the American Composers Forums’ annual NextNotes initiative.
The Brooklyn Wind Symphony is a select, all-volunteer ensemble dedicated to high-quality music making. The Brooklyn Wind Symphony promotes lifelong participation in music by providing a diverse yet like-minded group of advanced instrumentalists the opportunity to play the most esteemed repertoire for symphonic wind ensembles, as well as increases public awareness of symphonic wind ensembles and the literature written for them through commissioning new works by talented composers and by acting as an arts advocate in major venues in New York City and beyond.